As
the originator of the so-called "Real Robot Genre", Mobile
Suit Gundam laid down many new staples and tropes. The one that
annoys me most, in a misnomer sort of way, is the idea that prototype
mecha are always better than one built by the dozen. On some level,
this makes sense, as a new weapon should be designed to be better
than something that already exists. Quality versus quantity, and all
that. Then again, prototype more properly refers to something that
isn't finished, so such a machine would be buggy like a PC game in
beta. What First Gundam ended up doing in the name of good
storytelling was imply the former interpretation. Yes, the GM is a
simplified and mediocre robot versus the Gundam, but that was the
point. A Doylist reading says this guy dies like many do in a war
drama. The Watsonian reading says we need quantity NOW, but this is
still better than a Zaku on paper. But what people a actually heard
was that mass produced mecha, especially Feddie ones, were
crap.
What was I talking about? Oh right, the model. My first impression of the kit was "Yikes, is it meant to be that colour?". I'd looked it up on Dalong.net, so I knew it wasn't actually white, but really, it's that minty in person? And the box makes it look more like a grey? Greenish is canon, I checked, but you can pick your frame and end up with white too. Anyways, this kit is pretty old. Not the most aged I've talked about, but old enough to buy beer. This possibly explains the plastic colour, and certain simplicities in its engineering. Its very straightforward kit with 2 runners, polycaps, and a single sticker. Unfortunately, it also predates translucent plastic for the beam saber, lacks a full selection of weapons, "tilt forward shoulders" and other quality of life improvements. It is the least technically impressive kit I've written about. That's not automatically the same thing as saying its bad however. Don't overpay or anything, but there ALWAYS is something to be said for a quick, no-nonsense build experience. It's soothing, and I do this stuff to relax. Although, I did end up drilling out the "inactive" saber hilt to accept a more modern beam effect.
The end product certainly isn't bad either, adjusting expectations. It's not especially well-articulated, but it's got the basics, and enough to use its accessories. The shield lends itself pretty well to posing thanks to a flexible arm mount and handle, with a storage mount on the backpack. The Beam Spray Gun has only the one trigger hand, but it looks nice, and you do get an expressive left hand. The main argument against this kit however is the amount of finishing it needs, specifically in the area of seamlines. So, after a therapeutic build, I did some research, got some new tools, and tried to fix it. I figured, "it's a cheap and simple kit, even if I mess it up, it'll be a learning experience, better this than something complex. "
It went about as
well as that time Father Ted tried to fix a car. The thing
about seamlines is apparently you have to be really careful,
otherwise you are committing to paint. Via applications of glue and
file, I was able to minimise the majority of the seamlines, but those
same tools can obliterate detail easily at this scale. So, out came
the white spraypaint. This behaved oddly with the green plastic. So
out came the black spraypaint. Which also didn't take, which is there
are only pictures of this kit before the paint.
So, to
summarise: its a fun-if-basic kit, which I'm sad I made a mess of.
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